Gallipoli Diary

This 2-volume book represents a personal account of the Gallipoli Campaign written from the perspective of a British Army officer. The Gallipoli Campaign was a military campaign in the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula February 1915 to January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and Russia, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the straits that provided a supply route to the Russian Empire. The Allies' attack on Ottoman forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles in February 1915 failed and was followed by an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915 to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. In January 1916, after eight months' fighting, with approximately 250,000 casualties on each side, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force withdrawn. It was a costly defeat for the Entente powers and for the sponsors, especially First Lord of the Admiralty (1911-1915), Winston Churchill. The campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory. Contents: The Start The Straits Egypt Clearing for Action The Landing Making Good Shells Two Corps or an Ally? Submarines A Decision and the Plan Bombs and Journalists A Victory and After K.'s Advice and the P.M.'s Envoy The Force - Real and Imaginary Sari Bair and Suvla Kavak Tepe Attack Collapses The Last Battle Misunderstandings The French Plan Loos and Salonika The Beginning of the End

Ian Hamilton (1853-1947) was a British Army officer who, following an extensive British Imperial military career in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, commanded the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War. Along with his professional career Hamilton was a prolific writer. He published a volume of poetry and a novel. Examples of his written works include: The Fighting of the Future, Icarus, A Jaunt on a Junk, A Ballad of Hadji, and A Staff Officer's Scrapbook.